At Bioproducts there seems to be a significant amount of work interdependence.
Team members rely on each other for materials and other resources (refer to table 5.2.4.1). The goals of the individual come directly from the work goals of the team (refer to table 5.1.2.3). The teams have a clear notion of what the objectives are. There is a strong reliance on the teams to provide information, materials and to determine the goals. Group member's goals are linked and tasks require co-operation in order to achieve team goals Team members share resources in order to attain goals and their actions are closely co-ordinated. A sense of urgency and direction, purpose and goals exists within the teams.
Interdependence is one of the most crucial elements for teams to exist and to be effective.Itis important that tasks the group undertakes are not over- or under- orchestrated, that, members become more involved in the outcomes, creating a sense of ownership. There is a broad sense of shared responsibility for the group outcomes and group process
For high performing teams there must be effective ways of making decisions and shared leadership. There is a high level of individual control (refer to table 5.1.1.1 and table 5.1.1.2) within the teams because of the greater focus on job enrichment. Team
members are granted more responsibility (refer to table 5.1.4.1& 5.1.4.2& 5.1.4.3), more autonomy and more control over the pace and scheduling of their work (refer to table 5.1.2.1). Team members have the ability to decide on work methods (refer to table 5.1.2.2), to check quality and to develop new solutions to problems.
Teams have a moderately high level of autonomy. Teams are given the opportunity to brainstom1. Most decisions made are what they call
"e
decisions." They are decisions made by consensus, by the people directly involved, with plenty of discussion. While teams are given the opportunity to decide the order in which things are done and how to get the job done the individuals input in these two factors are not ignored (refer to table 5.1.3.1). Itseems that the individuals in the team have even greater control in the order and methods used. One would expect that the team would provide guidelines and this would be refined by the individuals performing the task. This ensures that the individual in the team is not bored and receives increased job satisfaction fromindividual input.
For effective teams there must be a balance of satisfying individual and group needs.
A climate must be created that is cohesive yet does not stifle individuality The individuals role in the team is not sacrificed for the sake of team consensus.
Team members are highly involved in making decisions (refer to table 5.1.4.2) and participating in decision making about setting goals and targets within Bioproducts (refer to table 5.1.4.1). Teams are consulted on decisions that affect the teams (refer to table 5.1.4.3) For highly successful teams it is imperative that team members are allowed to contribute to the team goals and decisions taken within the organisation.
Accountability to peers and the organisation is linked to both job satisfaction and trust in supervisors and managers. Bioproducts recognises that in order for teams to be successful in the organisation they must be involved in the decision making of the organisation. Individuals in the team must feel free to contribute to the team to ensure personal job satisfaction. The teams realise that any resentment shown to a team member or non- willingness to listen to ideas generated by a team member can result in the withdrawal of the team member from any further participation, which is to the detriment of the team. Similarly the organisation realises that if teams are not
involved in organisational decision making the teams would consider their
contributions as not being meaningful and being ignored by the organisation resulting
in poor morale and eventually poor performance. The organisation understands that in order to achieve effective groups that individual and mutual accountability and a sense of common commitment characterize teams. All members must take
responsibility for the overall group effectiveness and for dealing with problems that are inevitable. The teams need to invest tremendous amount of time and effort exploring, shaping, and agreeing on a purpose that belongs to them both collectively and individually and then translate this into specific performance goals. Overall there is a high level of accountability and autonomy given to teams and team members at Bioproducts. There are high levels of commitment among team members.
For optimum-performing teams there must be immediate and demanding perfonnance oriented tasks and goals. There must be some variety in the tasks performed
The tasks achieved are significant and the fact that they are significant is valuable in ensuring that members stay interested and motivated to complete the task
The teams have separate tasks and complete whole jobs (refer to table 5.2.3.1) for example the production teams are each responsible for their own shift perfonnance and whatever occurs during their shift cycle at work.
There is a high level of task variety (refer to table 5.2.1.1), the tasks are significant (refer to table 5.2.2.1) to outside members of the group and the tasks are significant to ensure that members stay interested and motivated to complete the task.
Employees have greater satisfaction when tasks are related to each other and require working together. The setting that is most amenable to work teams is one in which employees must work with each other to get their job done. Interdependent members of a team can accomplish certain aspects of their jobs on their own, but are dependent on other units in the organisation to get their work done. (Russel, p27).
Sometimes the requirements of a task are to complex for a single individual to handle.
In this case, the team is more than the sum of the parts- the team can do things that the individuals working singularly cannot. Organisations whose employees do not depend on each other at all to get their jobs are unsuitable for the use of teams. Ittakes
additional effort to work in teams, so it is important to know that there is a benefit from a team effort.
At Bioproducts heterogeneity (refer to table 5.3.1.1) is rated highly and one can conclude that there is a good blend of experience and ability. Membership of group is based on skill and skill potential and not on personality.
The teams are filled with diplomats of various disciplines and also individuals with many years of experience in industry.
There are high levels of flexibility (refer to table 5.4.1.1) within the team. The teams because of their high level of cross training and goal focus make rapid adjustments to the changing needs of the organisations. This allows the teams to keep many balls hanging in the air without becoming completely snowed under. The teams create a climate and system where people can focus on the goal.
There is a relative size attached to groups, which makes them most effective. Groups should be large enough to get work done, but not too large for co-ordination or involvement of members to become impaired. The groups at Bioproducts are generally limited to six team members with the maximum in cross-functional teams being seven employees.
Employees that are inthe teams seem to have a high preference for group work (refer to table 5.3.3.1). Their preference to be part of teams adds to the cohesiveness of the group. Increased job satisfaction is found when work preference is matched with the work being done. Research has found that people who prefer group work are more satisfied with group work.
Job- related training is sufficient to allow team members to complete their tasks (refer to table5.4. 1. 1). The organisation puts a great emphasis on cross -training. Team members are not allowed on to the plant without undergoing a formal training
process. The formal training on a particular section can take up to six weeks under the tutelage of a Training Specialist. Thereafter the Management Team formally appraises the individual. The individual is then allowed to shadow a competent team member on the plant for a period of two weeks. The individual is then evaluated by the team leader and in consultation with management is then only deemed competent. This is essential to ensure that team members can perform the tasks required of them and does not place undue stress on the teanl. Teams are also taught soft skills like brainstorming and taught how to handle confronting differences; to confronting conflicts; and how to deal with minority opinions effectively Teams are taught
effective communication patterns i.e. how to communicate both ideas and feelings and good listening skills among members
In order for teams to succeed it is essential that teams be nurtured through the development stages to ensure that they reach their true potential. Organisations need to develop learning organisations to facilitate and grow the teams. In order to do this Bioproducts has ensured that the company culture and environment are there to support learning. The awareness of trying to create a learning organisation has enabled the organisation to shorten the learning curve in order to create a Biotechnology skills base that is anything but short of world class status. The organisation is now able to sell its technology as well as carry out its own research and development. Itis able to take projects from the laboratory scale and scale it up to pilot and eventually up to production scale in the shortest period of time with great success. This has given the company a competitive edge, which can be fully utilised in the years ahead. According to Senge (1994) team learning transforms skills into capabilities and that they are collective vehicles for building shared understanding.
The strength of any team is built upon the collective efforts of the individual
members. One of the most essential skills is for teams to learn communication skills and the ability to carry on thoughtful dialogue. Studies have shown that talent is one that has ensured the longevity and growth in teams more than any other does. Teams fail most commonly when they are not supported by the infrastructure within the organisation. Teams do not work very efficiently when they have to constantly justify their existence, Bioproducts has managed to circumnavigate this pitfall by firmly entrenching the team philosophy and nurturing it through the development stages.
The strongest and most consistent factor that increases teamwork is managers encouraging teamwork. Managers at Bioproducts help employees work together as a team, resolve disagreements and support the team efforts to ensure that the group as a whole exhibit higher teamwork In the organisation there is sufficient managerial support this is evident in the high rating given to the question of management support (refer to table 5.4.2.1). This is essential to ensure that teams succeed. Management accepts that the teams are made up of humans, so they are bound to err and has created an environment in which it is permissible to err in. The teams learn from its mistakes and grow even more. Management uses the opportunity to coach individuals
on their actions that led to mistakes rather than taking disciplinary action. If teams don't feel comfortable making mistakes, that organisation has not created an environment to support teams and making the growth of teams possible.
The educational system in place seems to have a mediocre response when comparing to the other factors, the mean achieved was 2.9 (refer to table 5.6.1.1). The
organisation encourages higher learning and supports employees financially to acquire higher qualifications through technikons and universities to improve their skills and knowledge levels. This also allows employees to take up the opportunities for promotion when they become available. The fact that a large majority of
employees do work shift places a restriction on individual ability to attend classroom learning and this is being expressed in the survey. The organisation does allow some sort of flexibility to employees to swop shifts to accommodate individuals that are studying however this does not seem to have addressed the situation totally.
The information system (refer to table 5.6.2.1) in place for the teams purposes is rated highly. Itis essential that in this modern era were knowledge is a finger tip away that organisations have information systems made available to teams to ensure their effectiveness. The competitiveness among organisations makes it essential.
The organisation has put in a system that supports and reinforces organisational excellence. The plant is fully automated. Real time historisation of process variables takes place. This allows the teams to access any information related to the plant to help in troubleshooting. The organisation relies heavily on information technology.
All employees have access to computers and communicate via e-mail. All information is readily accessible to all employees.
Significant evidence exists that the teams are well supported with the essentials to ensure effectiveness
6.2 Degree of Change as a result of Teamworking
Overall the teams have indicate that there is significant benefits attached to teams.
The AECI Bioproducts plant revolves around teams and teamwork. Everyone belongs to a team, and every team meets every day. The employees, and even management, rely on the open lines of communication. They keep each other in check and feel comfortable offering opinions or suggestions
The amount of communication (refer to table 5.7.1), co-operation (refer to table 5.7.2) and interest in work has increased (refer to table 5.7.3). Teams members are more reliant on each other to accomplish their goals and thus ensure that the teams maintain their effectiveness. Co-operation has increased markedly because the teams are driven to achieve goals and hence team members are tied into the final outcome. The teams have more authority to plan their work, deciding how it should be done and learning new skills that help them grow hence making the tasks interesting. Team member's jobs are increased to include more variety, often requiring higher levels of skill and knowledge. Teams have the necessary skills to be objective in order to review its performance objectively